CHIPPER916

Last weekend I went on a wheeling trip with our local club. The trails we were on had a lot of off camber situations, and I found that my front tires were frequently rubbing my fenders so severely I thought the tires were going to rip them off. My tires measure out to about 34.50" x 12.50" on 8" wide wheels with 4" of back spacing. I have 3.25" of lift.

The last time I had the Jeep off road I did not have this problem, but I was not on a trail with so many off camber situations, and I had tires at that time that were 11.50" wide. Maybe the additional tire width is part of the problem.

I am trying to figure out the best way to handle this problem. I still have the stock bump stops, should I install extended bump stops, or do I need flat fenders or both?

B34st J33p

although you could always do that AND trim your fenders or put new ones on...

1BAMFR

Let em rub...mine do too...its a rubber tire on a plastic fender...nothing to worry about.

But, if you don't like it....adjusting bumpstops, trimming flares. Or buy flat fenders.

CHIPPER916

I already ordered JKS adjustable aluminum bump stops from Northridge this week, and now I am concerned about them limiting my articulation, and if the flat fenders are the way to go. I was thinking that the JK would look goofy with a lot of open space between the tires and the fenders if I had flat fenders with my tire and lift combination. I suppose I could just ignore it as 1BAMFR suggested and just get flat fenders or trim mine if they get ripped off.

Battlefrog

But he is not running 37-40" tires on a 2.5" lift.... And if done properly, you most certainly can run 37" tires on a 2.5" lift with no issues.

As for the rubbing, jeep made a horrible design with our fenders. I'm running damn close to the same setup as you are, and have rubbing issues. I have installed diff bumpstops but still get rubbing during certain obstacles. The only real way to alleviate this issue without going to a crazy lift and having your tires look tiny, is to either trim the fender or replace with flats. I run with a lot of guys with trimmed fenders, and I'm the only guy out there sounding like a mini Gatling gun on the trail..

CJ7nvrstk

I am a big fan of not limiting articulation with extended bumpstops. I rand my 08 JKU on 37s that way and it did great with no problems at all. Some will say you will suffer early spring failure but I ran that way for 3 years with no problems. That was with a BB and stock springs as well.

So I say, trim the flares or go flatties. Trim is free at least except for the door edge molding.

Planman has some excellent write ups about big tires, minimal lift. Check em out.

Merlin4979

You can still get flex with big tires and minimal lift - you just need to set it up for droop.




But...to answer the OP, looks like you've already figured out that bumpstops or flat fenders are the solution to your problem.

Here's mine flexing with a Leveling Kit and Xenon flats.

CHIPPER916

I just realized what a stupid comment this was. My articulation is already limited by my fenders. I suppose I will give the extended bump stops a try and then go the flat fender route if I still have rubbing issues.

saskipper

Just get a 1" body lift.